Wrestling with the pandemic: How one Pride sports team is grappling with Covid-19
By Kristan Bravo
Garrett Lambert arrived at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex last season for wrestling practice five days a week. The team did an additional hour of strength and conditioning workouts three times a week, and an hour of running on Saturdays.
Now, Lambert and his teammates are limited to lifting and conditioning for 45 minutes to an hour three mornings a week, all while wearing a mask and adhering to social-distancing guidelines.
Head coach Dennis Papadatos said his team is struggling to stay positive during this “new normal.”
Photo courtesy Hofstra University Athletics
“They’re miserable,” Papadatos said. “They’re miserable that they can’t practice. If it was up to every guy on this team, we’d have practice today. Imagine something you’ve done for 15 years straight, you can’t do it right now. It affects their mental output.”
With strict Covid-19 precautions in place, the Hofstra wrestling team has been unable to hold traditional practices, as no contact is permitted.
Lambert has been wrestling since kindergarten and is now a redshirt senior on the team.
“By the time I was in third grade, I was wrestling all over the country,” Lambert said. “By sixth grade, I quit every other sport and did it year-round.”
He said the uncertainty of this season has been difficult. “I don’t think anything can really prepare you for this,” Lambert said.
All of Hofstra’s student-athletes were required to submit a negative Covid-19 test before resuming team activities. Now, each team is part of the school’s surveillance testing protocol, which calls for random students attending in-person athletic trainings or academic classes to be tested every week.
Papadatos said three of his wrestlers were part of the surveillance testing the week of Sept. 14, and all three tests came back negative. These wrestlers were among 314 on-campus students selected for testing that week. According to the university’s latest surveillance results, only two of the total tested positive.
Lambert was limited by injury to 10 matches last season and is eager to get back to full practices. He said he would feel “100 percent safe” doing so, despite the close-contact nature of the sport.
“I wish we could get on the mats right now,” Lambert said.
Papadatos said it’s frustrating to see his athletes, many of whom are nationally ranked recruits, held back in their athletic work this semester.
“Part of their life goals are accomplishing their athletic goals alongside their academic goals,” Papadatos said. “And they’ve done that for so long in their life.”
Though frustrated, Papadatos acknowledged both his team and the university are doing what is best for the athletes and coaches.
“We’re doing everything as safely as possible, but they wish they could do more than they’re allowed to at this point,” Papadatos said. “We’re following the protocols and doing everything right. We don’t want to put anyone in harm’s way.”
In a July news release, Hofstra announced the suspension of fall sports, but outlined a plan to proceed with winter and spring sports as scheduled. Two months later, this plan is still up in the air.
Andrew Wetstein, the senior associate athletic trainer for Hofstra wrestling, said he is unsure how the NCAA can adapt the sport to protect student-athletes from the Covid-19, which has killed more than 220,000 people in the United States.
“You’re breathing, you’re spitting, you name it — it’s happening in this sport,” Wetstein said. “It’s hard to picture wrestling in a mask.”
Despite these concerns, Papadatos is more confident than not that a season will take place.
“I’m optimistic on having a season, but sometimes I wonder if it’s even worth it,” Papadatos said. “Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to just cancel it and give all the kids their years [of eligibility] back.”
Entering a possible 2020–21 season, Hofstra wrestling faces the challenge of potentially losing athletes who have the option to redshirt.
“We definitely won’t be the best version of ourselves with the guys who might be out for future planning,” Papadatos said. “But I do think we’ll be pretty darn competitive because we have a good squad.”
Redshirting has become a favorable option for many student-athletes, especially when seasons are moved to a condensed format, which remains a possibility for wrestling.
“I want us to go to some of our bigger tournaments,” Lambert said. “I want the conference tournament. I don’t want a super-short schedule and then nationals like some of the rumors have been saying.”
In March, the NCAA released a statement granting an additional year of eligibility for spring 2020 student-athletes who had their seasons canceled because of Covid-19. This extra year was not extended to winter sport student-athletes who had seasons cut short, and likely will not be granted this year if winter seasons are played with shorter schedules.
Regardless of individual preferences, Papadatos said the team will appreciate being able to wrestle this year or early next year.
“We’re not going to complain about it,” Papadatos said. “We’ll do it, and we’ll do it with a smile on our face and be prepared for it.”
To be prepared, Papadatos said the team will need between four and six weeks to practice in their traditional format before competitions begin. He said six weeks would be ideal, but he would be able to manage in four.
“I hope we can keep [the coronavirus] out, so we can get back to a sense of normalcy to an extent in the sport, Papadatos said. “The guys need it. I need it.”
